Portugal-based business and technology consulting firm S4 Digital announced that it had acquired a 70% stake in Pakistan’s digital marketing and advertising firm Bramerz for an undisclosed amount.
The acquisition marks the end of a climactic journey for Bramerz marked by stiff competition from traditional marketing and advertising companies, and the beginning of a new one. Founded in 2006 by Badar Khushnood, Amer Sarfaraz and Zeeshan Saleem, Bramerz was an early entrant in Pakistan’s digital services market and has since bootstrapped its operations, reaching revenues running in millions of dollars.
In this journey, the digital marketing and advertising firm has lost some of the major clients it worked with, such as PepsiCo and CocaCola. This was because the increase in digital spending at corporations lured traditional marketing and advertising firms with better financial muscle and industry contacts to cut right into the market share of newage firms such as Bramerz.
Consequently, Bramerz turned its focus towards providing services to small- and medium-sized businesses. After the acquisition, Bramerz and its partner are now looking to accelerate their presence in Pakistan and regain that lost market share.
But above all, the new owners and old founders, who own the remaining 30% in the company and will be around as managers, are planning to leverage the presence of S4 Digital to offer Bramerz products in global markets.
